Which Parent Is Responsible For A Child’s Health Insurance And Medical Bills?

Splitting your assets and debts following a divorce can be a complex process — more so if you have a child to care for. While both parents are legally responsible for caring for their child, who pays for what is not always clear. This is especially true if your child suffers from a medical condition that necessitates ongoing treatment and care, as well as reliable health coverage.

What often perplexes parents going through a divorce is who is responsible for paying for health insurance and how medical expenses should be split between them. If you are in the same boat, ask yourself, “Where can I find top-rated family court lawyers near me?” A professional attorney can assist you in navigating the process smoothly.

Legal Requirements for Health Insurance

Parents are bound by law to provide for their children, which includes providing them with access to appropriate medical care and treatment through an insurance plan. Most parents receive this coverage through their employers — they can add their children to their own insurance until they reach the age of 25. Following a divorce, a parent may be legally required to keep their child on the policy to ensure their well-being. If a parent withdraws their child from the policy without consulting the court or in defiance of a court order, the court may impose severe penalties.

So does this imply that both parents must keep the child on the policy? No, not always. The courts may decide that only one parent keeps the child on their policy. This is often the parent who will receive child support. However, the courts may make their judgment based on who has a more reliable insurance policy.

You and your former spouse can settle on how health insurance coverage and medical bills will be split. You may decide to keep both policies to ensure that there are no issues when you need to take your child to the doctor. Or, you could name one insurance policy primary and the other as secondary, implying that one parent’s insurance will cover the child, except in emergencies.

Who Is Responsible for Medical Bills?

You and your former spouse can divide how you want to handle each expense, just like you do with health insurance. You may, for example, divide it based on your earnings and living expenses. If one parent is covering most of the child’s living expenses, an arrangement may be reached where the other parent covers most of the child’s medical bills. Ultimately, you will want to make sure that you reach an agreement that puts your child’s medical needs first.

However, there is another aspect of medical expenditures to consider: how they affect your divorce. Medical bills are a type of community debt that — because of New York’s equitable divorce laws — can be shared equally in a divorce. Even if one parent covers most of a child’s healthcare and medical expenses with their salary, both parents are responsible for the debt. This, however, only applies to debt incurred during the marriage. After your divorce, these bills are no longer considered community debt, and you will not share any debt unless specified in your custody arrangement.

If you are having a difficult time determining parental responsibilities in a custody arrangement, you should contact a New York child custody lawyer right away. They can go through your custody plan and the legal requirements of New York law to figure out who is responsible for insurance, medical bills, and debt.

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Created on Dec 22nd 2021 01:49. Viewed 181 times.

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